SIfp  JPallf 

into 

THE  WILL  OF  GOD 

By  Edwin  M.  Poteat 


Interchurch  World  Movement 
OF  North  America 

45  WEST  18th  street.  NEW  YORK  CITY 


Pric?,  2 cents  each,  20  cents 
per  dozen;  $1.50  per  hundred 


By  Edwin  M.  Poteat 

OUR  LORD  saw  all  life  afloat  in 
the  will  of  God  as  in  a shining 
haze — flowers,  birds,  men,  every- 
thing. “Not  a sparrow  falleth  to  the 
ground  without  your  Father.” 

Paul,  in  Romans  12:1,2,  exhorts  us 
“Be  ye  transformed,”  and  the  reason  for 
the  exhortation  is  that  we  may  “know  the 
perfect  will  of  God.”  The  will  of  God  is 
the  law  of  the  world.  To  change  the  figure, 
it  is  the  pole  star  of  the  Universe.  The 
great  dipper  of  the  northern  sky  revolves 
through  an  enormous  cycle  and  its  center 
is  the  North  Star. 

OUR  GREAT  EXAMPLE 

Our  personal  task  is  to  know  the  will 
of  God  and  to  pivot  our  wills  in  His  will. 
When  we  are  so  pivoted,  life  swings  in 
perfect  harmony  with  the  total  order  of 
the  universe.  Can  we  find  the  path  into 
the  will  of  God?  Yes!  and  in  nothing  is 
our  Lord  Jesus  more  helpfully  our  great 
Exemplar  than  here.  He  found  the  path 
into  the  heart  of  the  will  of  God  and  He 
made  that  secret  place  His  home.  “I  do 
always  the  things  that  are  pleasing  to 
Him.”  (John  8:29). 


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The  Path  Into  the  Will  of  God 


Already  in  His  boyhood  He  is  clearly 
aware  of  a peculiar  relation  to  his  father. 
WhenHis  mother  reproached  Him,  after 
three  anguished  days  of  searching  for 
Him  and  finding  Him  in  the  temple,  He 
answered  and  almost  reproached  her 
anxiety  with  the  words,  “Why  did  ye 
seek  me?  Did  ye  not  know  that  I must  be 
about  my  Father’s  business?”  (Luke  2; 
49).  And  counting  this  as  one,  we  can 
mark  four  stages  of  His  progress  into  the 
will  of  God. 

The  second  would  be  the  struggle  in 
the  wilderness  just  following  the  great 
illumination  at  His  baptism  (Matthew 
4:1-11).  Here  He  thought  through  the 
principles  on  which  He  would  live  His 
life : He  would  neither  work  for  self, 
nor  fanatically  trust  God  to  work  for 
Him,  nor  would  He  compromise  by 
scheming  with  the  devil  and  the  worldly 
powers  in  establishing  His  kingdom. 

The  third  stage  was  when  Peter,  afraid 
of  the  issue,  tries  to  dissuade  Him  from 
going  forward  along  the  path  He  had 
chosen  (Matthew  16:21-26).  And  the 
fourth  when,  leaving  eight  men  at  the 
entrance  and  three  men  a little  further 
along  within  the  Garden,  He  plunged 
alone  into  the  engulfing  sorrows  of 
Gethsemane  (Matthew  26:36-46).  We 
find  here  the  secret  of  the  majestic  calm 
which  He  bore  through  all  the  farce 
of  His  trial  and  through  all  the  grue- 


The  Path  Into  the  WaL  of  God 


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some  and  bitter  details  of  the  crucifixion. 
For  to  be  in  the  will  of  God  is  to  be  in 
the  place  of  safety,  and  of  peace,  and  of 
power. 

THREE  STEPS  OF  PROGRESS 

Now  let  us  note  the  steps  of  our  pro- 
gress into  the  will  of  God.  There  is 
first  our  initial  discovery  that  so  long  as 
we  ignored  or  rebelled  against  the  will 
of  God  we  were  like  the  restless  waves 
of  the  sea.  In  this  period  we  often  de- 
ceived ourselves  and  tried  to  say  that  we 
were  having  a good  time,  but  knew  no 
peace  with  God  and  accordingly  no  peace 
with  ourselves.  There  is  no  peace  out- 
side the  will  of  God. 

Our  second  step  was  in  the  acknowl- 
edgment of  our  restlessness  and  our 
commitment  of  ourselves  by  faith  to 
Christ.  Conversion  means  turning 
round,  and  when  once  we  abandon  the 
attitude  of  ignoring  or  rebelling  against 
the  will  of  God  and  turning  to  Christ  in 
acknowledgment  of  Him  as  our  Saviour 
and  Guide,  we  have  entered  on  the  path 
which  leads  straight  to  our  home  in  the 
will  of  God.  For  here  we  yield  our  first 
assent  to  His  will.  “This  is  the  work  of 
God  that  ye  believe  on  Him  whom  He 
hath  sent.”  (John  6:29).  This  assent 
through  belief  is  made  in  a general  way 
only,  for  we  do  not  yet  know  what  His 
will  for  us  is.  This  is  no  reason  for  being 
afraid.  When  we  went  to  school  we  as- 


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The  Path  Into  the  Wh-l  of  God 


sented  to  a process  called  education,  but 
we  did  not  know  all  that  process  involved. 
Yet  the  alphabet  and  the  multiplication 
table  imply  the  farthest  imaginable  exten- 
sion of  the  education  process.  In  like 
manner  our  assent  to  the  will  of  God  by 
faith  in  Christ  implies  the  utmost  reach 
of  our  experience  of  the  will  and  work  of 
God. 

Third.  Alas,  for  some  Christian  life 
stops  short  at  this  first  stage.  The  light 
grows  dim,  the  lines  fade,  the  relation  to 
God  loses  its  fervor  and  religion  loses  its 
power.  But  we  are  not  of  those  who 
draw  back.  And  the  third  step  in  our 
progress  is  consent  to  the  will  of  God  as 
it  is  progressively  revealed  to  us.  Our 
life  question  is  not  “What  shall  I do?”, 
where  self-interest  may  be  the  spring  of 
action,  but  “What  is  God’s  will  for  me?”, 
and  when  conscientiousness  gives  place 
to  consecration  (See  Paul — “I  thought 
I ought”  and  “What  shall  I do  Lord” — 
Acts  26:9,  and  22:10),  our  whole  body 
is  full  of  light  (Matthew  6:22). 

SAYING  YES  TO  GOD 

Resistance  blinds  the  eye  of  knowledge. 
Consent  opens  the  eye  of  knowledge  and 
it  is  to  consenting  minds  that  God  will 
make  known  His  will.  This  is  what 
is  given  to  the  obedient.  Never  say 
“No”  to  God.  Say  “No”  and  Christian 
progress  stops  on  the  instant.  Say 


The  Path  Into  the  Will  of  God 


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“Yes”  and  the  road  opens  to  widening 
prospects  and  larger  service.  A law 
student  in  Yale  was  deeply  immersed  in 
the  study  of  political  science  when  God 
spoke  to  his  heart.  He  called  upon  his 
pastor  and  confessed  his  distress  of  mind. 
The  pastor  said,  “If  this  means  that  you 
are  fighting  against  God,  I advise  you  to 
surrender.”  Two  days  afterward  he 
came  again  to  the  pastor  radiantly  happy 
because  he  had  found  victory  through 
surrender.  Political  ambitions  were 

abandoned  and  the  “would-be  law- 

yer” became  a flaming  evangelist.  Wil- 
liam Carey  said  Y'es  w^hcn  God  made 

known  His  will  that  he  should  go  to 

India.  But  his  wife  said  “No,”  and  a 
sharp  conflict  of  wills  developed.  Carey 
entered  upon  his  voyage  alone,  but  was 
however  detained  for  two  or  three  weeks 
and  in  the  meantime  Mrs.  Carey  also  said 
“Yes.”  All  their  subsequent  career  was 
bound  up  in  that  instance  of  consent  to 
the  revealed  will  of  God.  We  may  give 
assent  to  a will  not  known,  saying  in  gen- 
eral, “Thy  will  be  done.”  We  go  for- 
ward only  as  we  consent  to  the  specific 
will  made  known  as  we  go  forward. 

Fourth.  Those  who  do  the  will  they 
know,  are  in  the  way  of  knowing  all  the 
will  of  God  and  here  we  pass  into  the 
last  stage  and  slip  into  our  final  home-— 


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The  Path  Into  the  Will  of  God 


the  heart  of  the  will  of  God — the  place 
of  safety,  and  of  peace,  and  of  power 
(Col.  4:12 — “fully  assured  in  all  the  will 
of  God.”) 

THREE  SUGGESTIONS 

Two  or  three  suggestions:  First, 
make  up  your  mind  that  the  will  of  God 
is  the  absolute  best  for  you.  Reaffirm 
it  as  the  law  of  your  life  in  the  fuller 
knowledge  that  you  have  now  gained. 

Second.  Go  forward.  One  little  step 
forward  will  do  two  things.  It  will  check 
the  backward  drag  of  your  life  and  it  will 
hold  you  in  the  right  direction.  I say 
only  a little  step  will  do  this,  like  daily 
Bible  reading,  stated  prayer,  little  acts  of 
self-denial,  etc.,  etc.  Don’t  be  afraid.  It 
is  our  Father’s  will.  If  it  leads  through 
cavernous  depths  and  engulfing  sorrows, 
its  goal  is  the  dazzling  summits. 
The  transfiguration  of  life  lies  a little 
further  along  the  road  of  the  crucifixion 
of  self-will  and  full  consent  to  the  will 
of  God. 

By  the  thorn  road  and  none  other, 

Is  the  mount  of  vision  won ; 

Tread  it  without  shrinking.  Brother; 

Jesus  trod  it,  press  thou  on! 


No.  263  LW.  Ill  100  Jan.  1920 


